From Greece With Love
by Morganperidot
Summary: Brenda returns to Port Charles after spending some time in Greece. She confronts the painful situation she left behind and builds a new connection to the future.


From Greece With Love  
  
By Morganperidot  
  
Brenda Barrett smiled as she walked through the Port Charles airport. She felt good, and she was glad to be back.  
  
It wasn't that she had forgotten the day she left - or being dumped by Jasper Jacks at the altar. Or that kiss with Sonny Corinthos on the docks. She remembered all of that, and everything before it. And it still hurt to think about how much she had invested in her failed relationships with those two men.   
  
But it was a new day in Port Charles, and Brenda was ready to make another new start. This was going to be the one; this time she was going to find happiness in the one place where it had always eluded her.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
She walked into Kelly's wearing a long gray coat over a teal blouse and gray pants and went straight over to the counter where Elizabeth Webber was serving someone. "Like the proverbial cat," Liz said. "Is this your fifth or sixth life?"  
  
"Ninth," Brenda said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jason dressed in a leather jacket and jeans coming down the stairs from one of the upstairs rooms. "So, how's my ex?" she said.  
  
"You're back in town?" Jason said.  
  
"Looks that way," Brenda replied. "But don't worry, I'm not interested you - or Sonny."  
  
"I'm not worried," Jason said.  
  
Despite his deadpan manner, Brenda could feel a sadness in him. "Are you OK?" she asked.  
  
"Sonny has some problems..."  
  
"I didn't ask about Sonny," Brenda said. She took hold of his right hand with her left and led him over to a table near the entrance. "Talk to me," she said.  
  
"I'm sure you have better things to..."  
  
"Nope, no plans," Brenda said. "Sit. Talk." He sat but didn't say anything. "OK, I'll talk. You nod if I hit on something. There's a problem with Courtney, right? She can't decide on a wedding dress?"  
  
"We're married," Jason said.  
  
"Congratulations," Brenda said. When he didn't respond she said, "That's good, right?"  
  
Jason shoved back his chair and stood up. "I've got some things to do," he said. "Maybe I'll see you later."  
  
Brenda was about to say something when she saw Jax in the doorway - with a short longhaired brunette dressed in a black shirt and jeans. Jax was smiling that big goofy smile he had when he was in love. Brenda had seen it often enough when she was with him. Jason walked past them and out the doors. Brenda just stayed where she was.  
  
"Brenda," Jax said.  
  
"Brenda," Sam repeated. "So you're the one Jax almost married."  
  
"Twice," Brenda said. "And you are?"  
  
"Samantha McCall," Sam said.   
  
"Nice to meet you," Brenda said.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Jax asked. Brenda saw that the smile had dropped from his lips. "Did you come to see if you could take Jax from me like you did from Skye?" Sam asked. "Quite a coup to steal a man on his honeymoon."  
  
"I'm just here to be here," Brenda said. "You don't have to worry."  
  
"I didn't say I was worried," Sam said. She walked away, and Jax followed her to a table. As he sat down he glanced back at her, and Brenda saw something in that look that told her that despite all that they had been through - and the lives they would inevitably live apart - he still cared for her.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Brenda took a room over Kelly's. She found that her room was next to Courtney's - which likely explained Jason's emotional state. She picked up a bottle of white wine and knocked on her neighbor's door. When Courtney opened it, she seemed more than a little surprised to see Brenda standing there. Brenda held up the bottle. "Do you have time for a drink?" she asked.  
  
Courtney seemed reluctant at first, but after a while the two of them got to talking, and by the time they were nearing the end of the bottle the discussion turned to loving a man in "the business." Brenda knew far too much about that - she had loved Sonny with everything she had for so long, and it had been a heart-breaking, destructive relationship for both of them. Their passion had been a shooting star...but their anguish had been a deep abyss. Sonny was as wrong for her as Jax was.  
  
It would have been easy for her to tell Courtney that it was a mistake to be with someone like Jason, that despite his love for her he would always hurt her. But she knew that wasn't her place - and besides, just because she hadn't been able to make it with Sonny didn't mean Courtney couldn't work something out with Jason. Clearly Sonny and Carly had made their love work, at least as far as Brenda knew. "Do what you feel is right," Brenda finally advised. "Listen to your heart, but think about things. Give yourself time to understand what you're doing and why, and make sure it's what you really want to do."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Brenda stood on the docks looking at the moonlight on the water. She hoped it worked out for Jason and Courtney. He deserved some happiness.  
  
"You shouldn't be out here alone in the dark."  
  
Brenda turned and looked at Jax. "I can take care of myself," she said.  
  
Jax walked over to her. He wore a black coat, and a black scarf was around his neck. "I thought I might find you here," he said. "I wanted to talk with you about - what happened before you left," he said.  
  
"When you dumped me during our wedding?" Brenda said. "Sure, I'd love to talk about that."  
  
"I was a jerk," Jax said. "I felt like you betrayed me with Sonny, and I couldn't deal with that. I'm sorry."  
  
"You were more than a jerk," Brenda said with quiet anger. "You were a Grade A ass. You let me go through with that wedding thinking that my fairytale was coming true. You knew how much that wedding meant to me - how much a future with a man I thought was in love with and devoted to me meant. And you stood there and maliciously broke my heart in front of the people I care about. And then you told me you never loved me. You were a pig and a liar, and saying you were a jerk now isn't good enough. I'm not going to let you off that easily."  
  
Jax was clearly stunned by her response. "I..."  
  
"Go back to Samantha," Brenda said. "Maybe you've learned something. For her sake, I hope so. Make sure you treat her with the respect every woman deserves."  
  
Speechless, Jax just turned and walked away.   
  
After a brief moment of silence there was the sound of two gloved hands clapping, and Alexander Erasmus stepped out of the shadows. He was a gorgeous man with shoulder-length cocoa-brown hair blowing loosely in the sea breeze. He wore a brown coat over a cream-colored shirt and jeans. "Bravo," he said softly. "Come here," Brenda said, and when he did, she wrapped her arms around him, and he immediately completed the embrace. She lifted her face to his, and Alex brought his soft lips to hers for a kiss that deepened as it lengthened. When she finally came up for air she asked, "Where are they?"  
  
Alex smiled the beautiful smile she had seen for the first time as she had sat alone at a table in the Plaka of Athens, the tears spilling into her Greek salad and the ouzo failing to warm the coldness inside of her. He had walked right over and sat down, laid his hand on top of hers on the table, and smiled. And she had known without question - after years of being torn between two men, one of whom she had been sure was her soulmate - that he was the one. With tears still lingering in her eyes she had returned his smile, and their life together had begun.  
  
He unbuttoned the top buttons of his coat and lifted the gold chain that hung around his neck. Without a word he undid the clasp and let the rings fall from the chain into his hand. Brenda smiled as he slid them back onto the ring finger of her left hand. He turned her hand over and lifted her palm to his lips, then kissed it gently. "I love you," she said, feeling it like a wave of peace washing through her.  
  
"I love you," Alex replied, his brown eyes soft and warm. "So, when do I get to meet everyone?"  
  
"Tomorrow," Brenda said. "Tonight you're just mine."  
  
Alex put his right hand against her cheek. "That will always be the case," he said. He kissed her again softly on the lips and then took her right hand in his left, and they walked back to their room at Kelly's. 


End file.
